It has heretofore been proposed to provide a walking cultivator of the power operated, handle guided type with rotary blades for cultivating a swath, or path, in crusted soil while also advancing the device. Usually such garden tillers have included a drag stake, or brake tooth, extending downwardly from the frame, in rear of the motor and rotating blades, and swiveled, to assist in control during advance as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,614,474 of Oct. 21, 1952 to Merry and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,040,590 of June 26, 1962 to Smithburn.
It has also been proposed to provide such a walking cultivator, or rotor tiller with a side mounted plow, arranged to plow a furrow alongside, and simultaneously with the cultivation of a swath in the ground, as the tiller advances under power. This is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,929 to Clark of Sept. 7, 1976.
However, all of the above expedients tend to exert a braking force on the roto tiller at the same time that the rotor blades are seeking to dig into crusted soil, thereby dissappating energy and straining the motor of the device.